The last is yet to be heard as Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa in his desperation to ensure electoral victory for his preferred governorship candidate, Sheriff Oborevwori stormed Udu Community, near Warri to distribute ₦10,000 each to indigenes who responded to his call.
The Governor who reportedly thanked the people for voting for Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP, at the just concluded presidential election, urged the Indigenous People of Udu clan to vote for the PDP at the Governorship election.
Okowa who spoke in special English otherwise known as pidgin to the people, shouted the PDP slogan but got disappointing response of “share the money,” instead of “power to the people.”
Again, Okowa corrected the angry crowd who registered their presence to collect the ten thousand naira largesse.
“When I say PDP! You people should respond accordingly, “power to the people.” He shouted three times, “Peeee Dee Peeeee,” and in like manner they responded otherwise, “shareee the money.”
The Governor reportedly walked away disappointed but not without appealing to the crowd to vote for his candidate in the March 18 governorship election.
Drama however started when some aggrieved women in the community engaged some of the PDP members detailed to distribute the ₦10,000 largesse, doled out ₦5,000 instead.
This did not go down well with the women who felt shortchanged and opted to engage them in a fight.
The confusion that ensued thereafter, left the venue littered with tattered new banknotes.
One of the recipients of the largesse who gave her name as Rume said that the money was distributed to the sectional heads to be distributed to those who wrote their names on the list provided.
“But we discovered that instead of the earlier ten thousand naira promised us, they started paying us five thousand naira. Though, some persons got the ten thousand naira from other sections. But some want to be smart,” she said.
Another beneficiary who would not want her name in print, told The New Diplomat that Okowa was only buying their votes with ten thousand naira, adding “with the new banknotes that Nigerians are fighting to get from the bank.”
It would be recalled that The New Diplomat exclusively reported that Okowa credited all Civil Servants in the Delta State ministry with ten thousand naira.
The bemused workers who were not informed of the development, however, accepted the greek gift in silence.
But stakeholders in the Delta State politics are aware that its case of vote buying which against the Electoral Act.
